Beaten
by MusicalCatharsis
Summary: She always smiled, that’s why I hated her. I mean who cares that she is not a Pureblood, I don’t. Not anymore. Not after what I witnessed that summer. Not after everything that I witnessed her go through. [JADED AND TAINTED FOLLOW! ALL COMPLETED]


"She always smiled, that's why I hated her. And the fact that I was squeamish, so any mention of blood and I was ready to spew my guts, that's it. I mean who cares that she is not a Pureblood, I don't. Not anymore. Not after what I witnessed that summer. Not after everything that I witnessed her go through. I guess that you could say that everything started the summer after our sixth year. I was on the run; I mean who wouldn't be for defying the Dark Lord. The bastard wanted to kill me; no way in hell would I let that happed. I ran from the Wizarding World. And I ran into the Muggle World, I know…I know. Just imagine it, me Draco Malfoy, walking alone in Muggle Streets.

"After three long tedious days of walking, I approached an array of trees. I would not call it a park, more of the outskirts of someone's vast backyard. I was right, by the way, but I hated what I found. As I walked deeper into the trees I could hear yelling and screaming. Crying and rage. I knew that something was not right with the sounds coming from the house but I never thought anything of it as I made myself a bed from the mossy growth and laid my dirty head down to sleep. The silence was wonderful, but in the back of my mind I could still hear the arguing. I could still feel the…hatred.

"When I awoke there was someone lying close to me, I could feel their body heat, and I relished in it. Slowly I lifted myself off the cold, damp, ground and stared at the beaten body sleeping next to me. Who was the creature? She was beautiful even though she was seriously hurt. I know that it was weird to say that I felt like I knew this Muggle, but I did. I whispered softly to her, gently cleaning her body and healing her cuts. As she awoke, I noticed the facial expression that signaled a scream, so I clamped a hand to her mouth. Her eyes, those eyes, I would know them anywhere, and when I finally recognized them, it was too late, I had been found.

"Slowly I removed my hand from her mouth and she hitched in her breath. Her hand rose above her head and she slapped me. The Gryffindor Princess slapped me, and I let her. I did not strike her back, or yell, or curse her; I let her repeatedly hit me. And when she was done, I wept. And silently, like she somehow understood, she held me. It's ironic actually, the way she held me, because I would hold her all those nights after her stepfather beat her. People said that I had it bad, that my father used to beat me, but they were so wrong. I was cold because I had to be in order to protect myself from the one thing that I hated: love. She on the other hand, was all smiles, and that is why I hated her at first.

"She held me, most of the night, until the screaming could be heard again. Silently she took my wand and muttered a spell, I didn't know what it was then, but I do now. And I am glad that she is the smartest witch in our year because he would have killed her. Merlin, that spell saved both of us. And then, with a blink of an eye, she was running from me and back to the raging voice. I knew not what she ran to, but I knew what she ran from. And it killed me to let her walk away the way that she did. I wanted to keep her with me but I could not because it surely would have sealed her fate."

The man sitting across from me cleared his throat. His twinkling blue eyes were filled with remorse. He signaled for me to continue telling my side of the story. I closed my eyes, squeezed her hand, and continued. She was sleeping so peacefully.

"Her mother was never home, that's what she said. And because she was not, _he _took out his rage and frustration on her. She was broken, and I helped to fix her. Hogwarts was her escape from that dreadful man. It's sad to say that I caught him on top of her, forcing her to perform sexual ministrations with him one time. It made me sick because he was twice her age, and her stepfather. I quietly stepped up behind him and smashed a brick over his head. I know now that I should not have done that, for he raped her that night, while she slept peacefully in her white bed.

"One day, after a week of silence, she talked. I remember the day like it was yesterday.

_She walked up through the same trees that she always did to find me sitting and smiling at a slug. She dropped a bag of burgers from a Muggle fast food restaurant that I loved at my feet and sat down beside me. She silently laid her head on my shoulder and I allowed her to. In my eyes, we were equal, she was no longer a Mudblood and I was no longer a Pureblood, we were two tainted children. We were jaded. I kissed the top of her head, which is unlike me, and then she spoke. _

"_Draco," she did not call me Malfoy ever again. "Sometimes…I want to run away from this place. I want to leave it forever but then he would hurt my mother, or worse my sister. He would hurt them and I could not live with that. I would rather kill myself then allow that bastard to hurt them. They are my world. Sometimes…I want to kill him…but then there are times…when he is nice. And I forget all of the pain that he has put me through. But then it happens again…and I know that nothing had changed." She smiled up at me through her bruised lips and I took the chance. I kissed her and she kissed back. It was her first real kiss._

_We stayed like that for a long time. Her head on my shoulder, me devouring those burgers. I was always hungry, but then again so was she. We shared everything._

"After that night she came back every day. I know…I know…it was weird at first. I mean we hated each other for six years and I was on the run…from everybody except her. She understood what it was like to be running. She understood me and I was grateful to her for that. Then came my birthday, I had never been alone on my birthday, but when she came to me that night, she was silent and bleeding. I was alone for the first time; my Jaded Angel could not even keep me company. She was so cold that night when I held her. So cold. Later she told me that it was because her mother had left on another business trip. She cried and kissed me with a passion that I could not even imagine coming from her.

"We made love that night. I'm sorry, Sir, I know…but it was wonderful. Mind you, I wasn't her first, he was and it made me sick; but she was perfect in every possible way. I never forced her…in fact she forced me. I wanted to wait…but she wanted to. I was a guy, with raging hormones; I respected her the next day. And all the days after that; I still respect her; I love her." I closed my eyes and remembered that night.

_The sky was void of any clouds. Stars were twinkling; winking at the two lovers who were entwined in the grass. I positioned my body over her and kissed her lips lightly. I wanted her and she knew it. She wanted me and I knew it. We were wise beyond our years of sixteen. It was the best birthday that I had in a long time. She was so moist and ready for me to slide my shaft into her waiting center. Her walls contracted to my size immediately. I loved her then, but as she set the pace, I knew that she was the one. I sucked on her neck as she roughly grabbed my hair and brought my face into her chest. I sucked on her nipples like I would never get to feel another breast in my mouth again. We made love on the grass like it was the last time for the both of us. But then again…we lived life like each day was our last. Why should our sex be any different? _

_**She forgot the spell that night.**_

"For two days she did not return to me. Later, earlier this week in fact, I learned that he had pushed her down the stairs. He had smelt another man on her and she was punished for it. She told me that I was lucky he did not want to hurt me. He knew who I was. She still came back to me, even though we both knew that it was wrong. No…we couldn't be called promiscuous…that's insane. When we made love…it was only to each other. We were always save; until the last time.

"She came to me with the first genuine smile I had seen her sport the day before we were to leave for Hogwarts. She had some of the greatest news for the both of us. She was pregnant. I know, Sir, how could I let that happen? But we didn't see it as a mistake…we saw it as rebirth, a second chance, **redemption.** He, her stepfather, didn't see it that way. He thought that it was him who had gotten her pregnant. He was livid. But then she told him…she told him everything…and then she ran. For the final day…we ran. We used the rest of my money to get our school supplies and got a room at the Leaky Cauldron. We were safe for one night. Then school started…and we had to face our friends. For the first time in a long time…we were separated. She went back to the Mudblood; and it killed me. I went back to being the Amazing Bouncing Ferret; and it killed her. Things were back to normal…except there would be a new addition. I still remember those days in the hallways. The first fight to break out was between Weasley and myself; I wanted to bash his face in, but I knew that Blaise and Potter would jump in. And then she would, and Pansy was stronger and larger than her; she would get pummeled. I took the chance and glanced at her with the love and longing in my eyes. She was Head Girl and out of my league, but at the same time she wasn't. She was mine and she knew it, nor did she try to rid herself of it.

"I heard Potter and Weasley yelling at her for my look and I berated myself for it. I wanted to kill myself for letting people know about us…but it happened slowly. And then she started to show. The Professors questioned her…and even more the Slytherins were ready to kill her. _The Mudblood is reproducing! _They whined that each and every night and it killed me on the inside because I could not go to her and protect her. Then one night I found her while she was making rounds. I pulled her behind a statue and I kissed her…but she was crying so I held her. She told me that she **had** to go home for Christmas break. I laid my hand to her stomach…knowing that she would come back jaded and broken. She would no longer be pregnant. I knew it.

"He hurt her each and every day she was away from me. Each night she would write me under my father's name and tell me that he would berate her and tease her. The question he asked her was always the same. _Where is your Wizard Boyfriend now? How come he is not here to help you now? _And after that question she would cry because he would climb on top of her and rape her. He raped my Princess. I was right…she came back without the baby, and I cried on her stomach. Our one chance at redemption was ripped out of our grasps and it was killing me. I wanted to kill myself and take her with me. But then it was graduation day…and he came with her mother. He knew who I was. He attacked me…told me some things.

_The Great Hall was filled of chattering people. I was standing outside, near the lake, waiting for Hermione, when He walked over to me. Immediately he had both of his hands around my neck and was lifting my body off of the ground. Roughly he slammed my back into the stone wall and whispered: "She will always belong to me. I broke her. I made her mine. Hermione Granger will always crawl back to me." He spit on my robes and walked off. She never came to me before graduation. But the next morning on the train ride home she found me. _

"She was beautiful in that pale pink tank top and black pants. We ran away together that day. She told her friends goodbye and I did the same to mine. We left all of our school stuff on the train and grabbed our wands and ran. We never came back until her sister found her. She was crying and beaten. That's when Hermione looked at me and I could see it in her eyes. Those eyes, which had held so much light since we ran away, diminished. She was going to return to that hell…and she was so damned headstrong…that no matter what I said she would not listen to me. So foolishly I let her go, and when I went to find her, she was like this on the floor of her old bedroom. She was beaten and broke and bleeding. In her hand was a picture of you. On her lips was my name.

"Immediately I brought her here and looked up your name in the phone book thing. I knew that you needed to hear this because without you knowing about it, nothing would be done. I could not stand up to him…I was running from stuff myself…and if I showed myself…she would be killed. I could not live with that so she made up her own mind. Mr. Granger…I know that your wife left you…and Hermione has hated her for it…but she is your daughter and you are a Muggle Police Man. I…we…she needs you to help her arrest that monster…because as much as I love you daughter…I do not think she is waking up this time."

I looked down at her sleeping form and traced a line down her cheek. The tears started to fall down my cheeks as I stared at her pale face. Her cheeks were sunken in. I could not see her eyes. She was so skinny. I wanted to hold her tightly to my body, but I knew I couldn't…she was broken…and I refused to add to her damage. Her father coughed and I looked up at him.

"Draco…is it?" I nodded. "Do they still live in the large white house with the blue shutters near the large piece of land with the shed in the back of the woods?" he asked quietly. I nodded. He was out of my sight before I could blink. I looked down at my Jaded Angel and smiled, brushing a hair out of her face. She was smiling slightly. And I hated her right then but I loved her.

"Your dad is going to arrest that bastard." I muttered. She was still smiling. After all that she had been through…she managed to smile. That is why I hated her. But I loved her because she never hated me. It was all a façade…but then again it wasn't. For the first time in my life I smiled.

She never woke up. I still sit by her bed, hoping that she would wake. She still wears my engagement ring…and the minute that she awakes we are going to get married. I do not care if the Minister himself comes out here in his knickers…I am going to marry this angel. Her stepfather went to jail where they gave him the death sentence. I visited him once while he was sitting on Death Row. I brought him a picture of Hermione and he spit on it. I was forced to hit him. The guards looked the other way while I beat his arse. Before I walked out of the cell I stepped on his throat.

"That was my baby you killed." Placing all my weight on that foot I heard something crack and walked off. Little did I know that Hermione was slowly waking in St. Mungo's. We would soon be united and my life would be happy again. Sometimes they say that I had it bad…in a way I did. They never once thought that Hermione had it worse…they still don't know…it's our little secret. And to this day, in our old age, when she has a bad day she still smiles. It's on those days where old school feelings surface. It's on those days that I hate her. But on the other days, when she is Hermione Jane Malfoy…I love her because she could not be anymore perfect. I hated her and I loved her…if that makes any sense then you know what I am talking about. But if it does not make any sense that you have not yet fully loved another with everything that you have to offer. At the end of that year…she had become me and I had become her. We were one and nobody could tear us apart.


End file.
